Morgan Stanley is entering the crypto retail trading fray with aggressive pricing. Bloomberg reported that the Wall Street giant is rolling out direct cryptocurrency trading through its E*Trade platform, charging a flat fee of 0.5% (50 basis points) per transaction. This undercuts fees at major rivals including Coinbase, Robinhood, and Charles Schwab.
Low fees as a weapon, pilot underway
The pricing strategy is designed to attract retail investors frustrated with high exchange fees or hidden spreads. E*Trade's 0.5% rate significantly lowers the cost of buying crypto. The service is currently in a pilot phase, limited to select users to ensure system stability and compliance.
Full rollout by 2026, targeting 8.6 million users
Morgan Stanley plans to make crypto trading available to all 8.6 million E*Trade clients by late 2026. These clients, traditionally focused on stocks and ETFs, will gain a low-cost, seamless on-ramp to digital assets. The move could bring millions of mainstream investors into crypto.
Wall Street deepens push into crypto
Until now, Morgan Stanley mainly offered Bitcoin spot ETFs to high-net-worth clients. The E*Trade expansion targets retail investors directly, leveraging competitive fees. As deep-pocketed Wall Street brokers enter the market, crypto-native exchanges like Coinbase—heavily reliant on retail trading fees—face significant competitive pressure in 2026.